Circulatory assistance is one of the more recent techniques which have been developed in the field of medicine for treatment of the heart. One such technique employs an intra-aortic balloon assembly which is typically inserted into the descending aorta and is inflated during diastole and deflated during systole to decrease left ventricular pressure and hence result in supportive activity of the heart. Immediately after left ventricular ejection, the balloon is again inflated to raise diastolic pressures and increase coronary perfusion, thereby mechanically assisting and augmenting the pumping action of the heart to significantly enhance the recovery of the patient.
To place the balloon, the patient's artery is incised and a graft which is to be sutured to the artery is placed upon the balloon before insertion. The balloon is inserted, and the balloon is maneuvered to the desired position. The graft is tied snugly with umbilical tape around the catheter in an effort to control bleeding. It has been found that this procedure is rather cumbersome and that back-bleeding cannot be controlled to the extent desired without occluding the catheter due to the constriction of the umbilical tape. In order to reposition the balloon, the umbilical tape or sutures holding the graft would again have to be loosened with the resultant undesired reoccurrence of bleeding.